Rinspeed Vehicles

Rinspeed Inc. is a Swiss concept car manufacturer founded in 1979. Rinspeed often show their designs at CES in Las Vegas and the Geneva Motor Show.

History

Rinspeed Inc. was founded in 1979 by Frank M. Rinderknecht and by the 1980s, Rinspeed had become the exclusive Swiss importer of AMG and AC Schnitzer vehicles. Rinspeed became synonymous with launches at the Geneva Motorshow, their first unveiling was, a turbocharged, modified Volkswagen Golf GTI with squared grille and headlamps. In 1981, Rinspeed returned to the show with a more heavily modified Golf called the Aliporta, featuring gullwing doors similar to those on the Delorean DMC-12. In the following years, Rinspeed showed concept Porsche's at the Geneva Motorshow including a heavily modified 930 Turbo known as the Rinspeed R39, at the time becoming a unique convertible 911 Turbo that was not in mainstream production and a R69 Turbo concept, a 911 Turbo coupe inspired by the Ferrari Testarossa. It is estimated 12 of the R69s were produced.

In the early 1990s, Rinspeed collaborated with Swiss artist Rolf Knie who hand painted a horse inspired design onto a Nissan 300ZX. Alongside the unique art, the Nissan was heavily modified with parts from suppliers including HKS. Moving through the 1990s and 2000s, Rinspeed continued to demonstrate heavily modified and unique concept cars including futuristic aluminimum bodied sports cars such as the R Roadster, the single seat kompogas powered Advantige R1, a Bugatti EB110 called the Cyan, and a two door, low roof Porsche Cayenne.

In 2006, Rinspeed achieved the world record time for a hydrofoil crossing the English Channel utilising their Splash concept vehicle, taking 3h 14 minutes to cover 36km. Rinspeed continued with their amphibious car concepts in 2008 with the Squba, the world's first car that can be driven both on land and underwater. Rinspeed were inspired by the 1977 James Bond film '' The Spy Who Loved Me''. The chassis from the Lotus Elise is used as the base for the sQuba.

Moving into the 2020s, Rinspeed have begun to specialise in micro and city mobility on projects such as the microSNAP.

Concept cars

zaZen

Rinspeed zaZen is a Rinspeed concept car shown for the first time at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show. It is based on the Porsche 911 (997) Carrera S platform and developed in collaboration with Bayer MaterialScience.

The zaZen is powered by a flat-6 engine that has a displacement of and develops a maximum power of 355 bhp (261 kW) at 6600 rpm. The car is able to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds and reach a top speed of 182 mph (293 km/h).

sQuba

Built around a Lotus Elise, the Rinspeed sQuba is a concept car that can 'fly' underwater and has zero emissions. It debuted at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, 30 years after its inspiration: the movie '' The Spy Who Loved Me''. The sQuba was featured in the first episode of 14th season of UK motoring show ''Fifth Gear''.

Splash

The Rinspeed Splash is a concept amphibian vehicle with hydrofoil design capable of 45 knots on water or nearly on land. Propelled by a 750 cc two cylinder turbo-charged engine burning natural gas which supplies at 7000 rpm and weighs just , this strange-looking vehicle can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds. It premiered at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show. The Splash was featured in an episode of ''Top Gear''. In 2006 it set a record for crossing the English Channel in a hydrofoil car, making the journey in 3 hours 14 minutes.

iChange

The iChange is a concept car that changes shape and configuration based on the number of passengers inside, up to three. It was unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. The car features are controlled by an Apple iPhone and it is powered by a electric motor. The iChange has a 0–100 km/h (62 mph) speed of slightly over four seconds, and can hit a top speed of .

UC

The Rinspeed UC is a micro concept electric car that was presented at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. The name UC stands for "Urban Commuter" or "You see". It is a 2.5 metres long micro vehicle, operated with a central joystick. The electric motor delivers of torque. The concept car can reach a top speed of , and on-board batteries enable the car a capable of range in one charge.

Budii

The Budii concept displayed at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show is worked around the future possibilities of self driven cars. Budii displays experiments to include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) radio-based communications, radar and motion sensing systems including advanced camera monitoring. It is also equipped with telescoping laser scanner on the roof called TrackView which can be raised by 70 centimeters and delivers a precise 3D perspective by combining data from all the various sensors to map the surrounding terrain.

Ʃtos

Concept Ʃtos is a concept presented in the Consumer Electronics Show in 2016. It is based on the BMW i8.

Oasis

Announced late in 2016 and first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2017, the Rinspeed Oasis concept car takes Rinspeed's 2015 Budii and 2016 Etos concept cars farther, integrating state-of-the art autonomous vehicle technologies, social media, and Mobility as a Service into a compact car described as a "living room" on wheels. It also features floor to ceiling glass doors, a battery-electric engine, retractable steering wheel, solar panels integrated into the roof, and an augmented reality display. An unusual feature, for a car, is the dash-mounted garden with sensors to advise the user when to feed the plants. It was also shown at the Detroit Motor Show. Partners on the project included Kostal (electronics), Harman (electronic controls), WayRay (infotainment system) among a wide range of other firms.

References

External links

Rinspeed Official siteRinspeed Editorial Video
West Coast Midnight Run, Vol. 2009, The International Frankfurt Automotive Show

{{Automotive industry in Switzerland

Auto parts suppliers of Switzerland
Swiss brands
Automotive motorsports and performance companies
Rinspeed vehicles
Car brands